Tag Archives: don quixote

Busy evening, but I wanted to share this quote from the author of Don Quixote.

“I have lived nearly fifty years, and I have seen life as it is.

Pain, misery, hunger….cruelty beyond belief.I have heard the singing from tavernsand the moan from bundles of filth on the streets.I have been a soldier and have seen my comrades fall in battle…Or die more slowly under the lash in Africa.I have held them in my arms in the final moment.These were the men, who saw life as it is,Yet they died despairing.No glory, no gallant last words… only their eyes filled with confusion,Whimpering the question,

‘Why?’

I do not think they asked why they were dying, but why they had lived.

When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies?Perhaps to be too practical is madness.To surrender dreams – this may be madness.To seek treasure where there is only trash.Too much sanity may be madness – and maddest of all:To see life as it is, and not as it should be.”

To me, this sort of inspiration is particularly poignant because it is not blind to the realities of our existence. It runs in stark contrast to the popular quote, “Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.” Here, however, Miguel de Cervantes is inspired to think differently and to dream big after having been exposed to the morbid realities of war.

In other words, life can be depressing as hell. It is of no benefit to pretend that the universe will reward us, always. We should accept that life has the potential to be extraordinarily shitty, and we should use this dissatisfaction to shape a new, less risk-averse perspective. It is then that we will thrive.

Life hurts sometimes. It hurts a lot of the time. But you must keep dreaming.